Tech Data Launches Brocade Recruitment, Enablement Initiative

Tech Data has rolled out a new enablement program designed to further stimulate the channel sale of campus-level networking gear from Brocade, which includes the expansion of call center support capabilities and market-based analytics, pre-sales engineering support, and additional sales and technical training for partners.

Each of these tools is seen as critical to maintaining current channel satisfaction and extending the channel footprint and alliances towards deeper partner alliances, as well as establishing new ones.

"We've had phenomenal growth with Brocade," said Ken Griffin, vice president of storage solutions at Tech Data. "Brocade already has a large percentage of the SAN connectivity market, but the majority of our growth with Brocade has been on the IP and Ethernet side of the house. We looked at where we were going and what we could do and decided to pull some resources together to further stimulate the entire networking space and help Brocade get its name out there, especially around Ethernet and campus LAN products."

Griffin noted that Brocade's heritage began in the storage space and then moved steadily into the networking market through its earlier acquisition of Foundry Networks. That move set the stage for a variety of enhancements and product rollouts in the networking space.

"They've developed a lot of edge switching and wireless switching products," Griffin added. "We're trying to help them extend those offerings to the reseller community that specializes in this very key area."

Griffin went on to explain that recent market research has identified networking as a key area of refresh for many IT organizations that are now seeing an increased volume of video and other bandwidth intensive applications traveling across their networks. "While a lot of people are looking at security and server refresh, the updating of the network has become a major priority. To a large extent, it's one of the most neglected areas of technology. But, the new capabilities are pushing the network a lot harder. So, this is an opportunity for channel partners to go to their customers and talk about the benefits of building up the core infrastructure."

The Clearwater, Fla-based distributor claims more than 11,000 networking VARs throughout the United States and sees itself as well positioned to help Brocade extend its channel position. The enablement initiative is expected to spur further revenue and marketing growth for the San Jose, Calif.-based networking company.